KEEPING A YOUTHFUL BROW

As we age, our eyebrows often tend to rotate down and in a bit at their outer ends. They also may thin and start to turn gray just like the hair on our heads does. The process is so insidious that we often don’t realize what is happening and that our brows may be part of the reason we suddenly notice that we look “tired”. Here are just a few tips on keeping a youthful brow. Know that I’m speaking in generalities since every individual is unique.

One of the hallmarks of a youthful brow is contrast between the color of the brow and the skin. While we want to keep our look as soft as possible as we age (since Father Time wants us to look harder and even angry), the whole upper third of the face will look prettier if the brows are well-defined. They truly are a frame for your eyes. The conventional wisdom is that we should keep the brows close to or a bit lighter than the hair color. If your hair is very light brown, blonde or gray, this rule does not apply. If the brows look faded, try a slightly darker shade of brow color. Give yourself a good day for your eye to adjust to the new color as the immediate change may throw off your perception of how it really looks.

If the brows are thicker, they will generally look younger. Pull out an old photograph of yourself and see if your brows are thinner than they used to be. If so, thicken them up a bit with your brow color, and again give yourself some time for your eye to adjust before nixing the result.

Ideally, the outer ends of your brows should be at the top of your brow bone, not curving down over the most prominent part of the rim. If the outer ends are lower than the inner ends, try lifting your brow color toward the topmost brow hairs laterally to improve the balance.

Also ideally, the outermost tip of your brow should be along a line that extends from the nostril through the outer corner of your eye on each side. Hold a pencil along that line and see where it falls when it reaches your brow. Since the ends of the brow tend to thin as we age, they can actually look shorter than the best proportion for you if you don’t extend it a bit.

Whether it’s just a matter of improving your brows with cosmetics or a situation that may require my help, we are just a phone call away if you need me or my wonderful aesthetician, Jill.